Metea Valley senior Keira Jannisch understands that with leadership comes responsibility.
That’s especially true during a pandemic.
So when the Illinois High School Association announced that the delayed 2020 girls volleyball season would begin in March, Jannisch stepped up. While most of her teammates opted to stick with club volleyball, Jannisch decided to return.
“This is my senior year,” Jannisch said. “I feel like I owe it to the team. I was the captain last year and the captain this year.
“It’s kind of my responsibility to show up for the team and I wanted to do everything I could for them, regardless of what the other people decided.”
The 5-foot-11 Jannisch, who will not play in college, could have been excused for wanting to take it easy, but she was eager to play a third varsity season, even with a makeshift lineup comprised mainly of players who otherwise would have been on the lower levels.
“School season is my favorite part of the year,” Jannisch said. “Every year, I look forward to it. Knowing we could potentially have lost our season, the second we heard that we had one, I knew I had to come back.”
Not only did Jannisch come back, she did so at a new position. After playing middle hitter for her entire career, she accepted Metea coach Dave Macdonald’s request to shift to outside hitter.
“I said, ‘Hey, I’m hearing people are going to stay at club and we’re going to need another outside hitter along with Sam (Rueda), would you be willing to do it?'” Macdonald said. “She said yes.”
That conversation took place just after the IHSA announcement. The Mustangs had their first contact days in February.
“She came to me the first day and said, ‘Are you still serious about this outside thing?'” Macdonald said. “I said, ‘Absolutely. We’ll get you training now.’ She was ready to go from day one.”
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Jannisch made the switch look easy and has paired with Rueda, a Baldwin Wallace recruit, to lead Metea’s offense.
Both had 11 kills Wednesday to lift the Mustangs to a 20-25, 25-19, 25-13 win on senior night over Oswego East.
“When I started playing volleyball, they just put me in the middle because I was tall at the time, but I’ve always wanted to be a pin,” Jannisch said. “When ‘Mac’ suggested it, I was like, ‘Of course, that would be so fun.'”
Jannisch has helped make the transition to varsity fun for younger players like freshman setter Carolina Gutierrez.
“Keira is great,” Gutierrez said. “She is someone I look up to a lot because she has really good skills, not just on the court but off the court, too.
“She’s a great person and has really good leadership skills, role model stuff.”
Gutierrez had 29 assists for Metea (3-6) and served the final six points against Oswego East (1-4). She was thrilled she could help the seniors win.
“It was so special,” Gutierrez said. “It’s nice they get a win on the night we’re celebrating them and all their hard work.”
Jannisch, who will study engineering at Purdue, is making sure the youngsters, including her sophomore sister Zoe, work hard.
“I definitely want to push the younger girls to do the very best they can,” Jannisch said. “Obviously, it’s a unique opportunity. They’ve done a great job stepping up and filling the roles they’ve been given, Carolina especially.”
Macdonald is grateful for Jannisch’s leadership.
“She’s just one of those kids that will do anything for the group,” Macdonald said. “She’s a fantastic person. She’s going to do great things in life.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.